Year: 2001

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Well, it is time for New Year’s resolutions. Have you decided what you plan to do or change in 2002?

As for me, I have lots to work on. Some of it will be to continue to improve what I achieved in 2001. Especially not get sucked into a rat race! And apply the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid)!

Let me share with you what my plans are for year 2002. You may have your own ideas. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, most people think in terms of pursuing healthy life style with a desire to live little longer. I am no different than the majority of the people. So what I say here may be on your list of New Year’s resolutions as well!

For year 2001, my New Year’s resolution was to practice ELMOS (exercise, laughter, meditation, organic healthy food, and stress relief). Since I don’t smoke, I did not add another S that would have been for “stop smoking”. So now we have ELMOS with a single S for non-smokers and ELMOSS with double S for smokers!

There are many barriers to good health and the three most important are:

-failure on one’s part to accept that change is required,
-failure to have a strong will power to work toward that change and
-failure to find time to make the change.

I accept that I need to make some more changes in my life. My will power is getting better as I realise that either I work toward achieving good health or suffer the consequences without complain. Finding time has been little better this year than ever before. And I am determined to find more time for my family and myself in 2002. But at work there is always direct and indirect pressure to do more. And that has to be resisted. Workload has to be shared fairly by all.

Well, here is my list:

1. Find more time for myself to continue practicing ELMOS. If I did smoke then “stop smoking” would be first on my list. If smokers can just do that in 2002, then they would be doing a great service to themselves and their families.

2. Find more time for my family.

3. Be an optimist again. Survival rates seem to be better for optimists. Be calm, prudent, levelheaded, resilient, flexible and creative.

4. Continue to eliminate sweet foods from my diet. Use more fruits and vegetables as substitute.

5. Stop worrying about my weight. If I eat right and exercise at least half-an-hour daily then there is no need to worry. If I spend more calories than I take in then my body fat should melt. It is as simple as that!

There is no short cut to good health. It is hard work. And I am determined to do more than I did in 2001. Hope you would do the same. Eating right, exercising moderately, quitting smoking and staying involved in the community can produce enormous benefits to individual’s health. So together, we can keep trying.

Good luck! Happy New Year! And keep it simple stupid!

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Meaning of Christmas and My Mother In-law

Christmas is here. Unfortunately, it is difficult to look back at 2001 and say anything nice.

Not long ago, we thought that the world was shrinking. “It’s a small world,” was one of the most commonly used phrases. I haven’t heard this sentence recently. Now even the U.S. feels distant! Travel across the border is not taken for granted.

Worldwide, there is news of death and destruction, of fear, terror and revenge.

Human differences have never been so much verbalised or written about. Are my fears different than yours? Is my God different than my neighbour’s? Are these differences important when millions of people are dying from illness, civil wars, starvation, terrorism and other wars? Is their God different than yours or mine?

Closer to home, many families lost their loved ones due to sickness or accident. Medical and nursing staff of Palliser Health Authority lost three of their finest: Dr. Ivan Witt, Dr. Keith Clugston and Nurse Wendy Smith. A big loss not only to their families but also to their colleagues and patients. What is more painful is that they were taken away from us so suddenly. What did their God have in mind?

Then there are people in hospitals or at home who are chronically ill and incapacitated. They are waiting to die because they are in pain. They are suffering. One such person is my 88-year-old mother-in-law who lives in Vancouver. For several weeks now she has been close to death. But continues to live. Her end is near. But we don’t know when. The family waits and flies in and out of Vancouver not knowing what to do.

If there was a case for euthanasia, then here is one. Her body is small and frail. All the body fat has disappeared. The joints are stiff and painful. The bedsores are hard to see. The muscles are wasting away. She is unable to eat or drink. She is literally starving to death.

Morphine helps relieve pain. Her dutiful son, who has looked after her for so many years, waits and watches in helpless despair. “What can I do to make it easy for my mother without prolonging her sufferings?” he keeps asking. The best thing is to keep her pain free and comfortable. But it is painful to watch. He wants to be at the bedside until the end.

I wonder what his God is thinking about?

But we know life isn’t fair. Whether it is your God or mine, He has His game plan. And there isn’t much we can do except learn to be descent human beings. Share and enjoy what we have with those who are struggling in life. I think the God of the Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others teach the same thing – be nice and help others.

Time and again we have learnt that life is too short. But greed and exploitation continues. Yesterday’s friends are enemies today. And yesterday’s enemies are friends today. It is no secret that ruthless exploiters (I wonder if their God is different than yours or mine) take full advantage of the majority of the people who are honest, descent, and God-fearing individuals.

The message of Christmas transcends all religions and human beings. It is one religious festival that has no defined boundaries. So let me wish you all a very merry Christmas, Ho! Ho! Ho!

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Laughter

“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God,” says Karl Bath (1886-1968).

We all agree that laughter is good medicine. But our life is a race against time. And we are looking for instant results and gratification. There isn’t much time to stop and laugh.

Physicians are no exception to the rule. In fact, physicians have to deal with sickness, disease and death all the time. So, do they find time for laughter?

Many patients have excellent sense of humour. These patients have a positive outlook in life. They generally do quite well with whatever illness they have. They make our lives very easy and comfortable. They show us that we, as physicians, should lighten up and look at the funny side of medicine.

Physicians are lucky that they have a magazine completely devoted to making them laugh. Every physician in Canada receives a magazine called “STITCHES – The Journal of Medical Humour.” It has 160 pages. Almost every page has a cartoon or two. Physicians write most of the humorous articles.

In the February issue of the STICHES, there is an article by Simon Hally: “Where there is a smoke – A modest proposal for discouraging tobacco use.” He says that for some smokers –like teenagers- the risks of smoking are too remote to be effective deterrent. Hally says the real key to an effective anti-smoking program is to make the risks more compelling and immediate. He suggests the following plan:

1. Tobacco manufacturers must be required by law to insert a small explosive charge at random into every, say, 100th or 200th cigarette they produce. The explosive shouldn’t be powerful enough to be dangerous – the objective here is to protect people’s health, not harm it – but it should be loud and smoky and very startling. This would bring a nasty surprise and embarrassment to the smoker. If the smoker happens to be a teenager then the effect of embarrassment would be immediate.

2. These explosives should be booby trapped with greenish, gooey substance. When the teenager smokes, the substance would explode on his face and on his designer clothings.

3. Some of these explosives should be booby-trapped with foul smelling gas, dye that will stain teeth, or substance which will give the smoker 48 hours of horrible breath.

Do you think this will stop people smoking? Especially teenagers?

***

Here is a doctor joke from Dr. Howard J. Bennett, a paediatrician in Washington, D.C. who has written books on medical humour. In one of his articles in the STITCHES, he relates the following joke:

A doctor died and went to heaven, where he found a long line at St. Peter’s gate. As was his custom, the doctor rushed to the front, but St. Peter told him to go back and wait in line like everyone else. Muttering and looking at his watch, the doctor stood at the end of the line.

Moments later, a white-haired man carrying stethoscope and black bag rushed to the front of the line, waved to St. Peter and was immediately admitted through the pearly gates.

“Hey!” the doctor said angrily, “How come you let him through without waiting?”

“Oh,” said St. Peter, “that’s God. Sometimes he likes to play doctor.”

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How To Quit Smoking

“Getting kids to butt out” was the topic of my column last week. We also discussed Medicine Hat School District No 76’s “Tobacco-free Environment” Policy A-38. Today, we will take the subject little further.

We know that no one starts smoking after the age of 20. Most smokers start smoking in their teens. We know that 91 percent of youth believe smoking is addictive. We know the two reasons why teens start smoking are: peer pressure (“be cool, man!”), and curiosity.

So, how can we stop teenagers from picking up this habit? And help smoking teenagers kick the habit?

Prevention programs depend on creating public awareness of the serious health consequences of tobacco use. But the Alberta Cancer Board says: “It is now recognized that awareness alone is not enough to alter behaviours. For example, it is ineffective to teach children that smoking is bad for you if the students then go home to parents who smoke, or go to the mall or other public places and see widespread social acceptance of tobacco use.”

To encourage and help people become and remain tobacco free, it is also necessary to create a supportive social environment, says the Cancer Board. Does our school system have such supportive social environment?

Ninety percent of everything we do is habit, says Kurt Hanks in “Motivating People”. Much of motivation involves changing someone’s habits. People are usually quite comfortable with their established patterns and routines. So how can we change them?

To change someone’s habit pattern, you have to substitute a better habit pattern. We have to show them that their time and money can be spent on better and healthier things. Besides that, personal motivation plays a big role.

Personal motivation is the single most important factor that determines a person’s success or failure in quitting cigarettes, says Dr. Edward Beattie, Jr., M.D. in “Toward the Conquest of Cancer.”

The man or woman who is highly motivated to stop smoking – for whatever reason – will be successful while those with weak or moderate motivation often do not succeed, says Dr. Beattie. Personal motivation also determines whether a smoker who has quit will backslide into smoking again.

The teenager does not fear cancer or other illness that may strike him in 20 to 30 years. But he does fear being “uncool”, not knowing how to handle a cigarette, and not being an “in” member of his social group, says Dr. Beattie.

It is never too late to quit smoking. The risk of death decreases soon after quitting and continues to do so for at least 10-15 years. After that, the overall risk is nearly the same level as for never-smokers.

Therefore, it is very important for schools to have programs that focus on prevention and elimination of smoking in and around schools. This should involve parents, teachers and students. We should also create a supportive social environment for teenagers to keep them away from this deadly disease.

The task is not easy. But the parents and teachers should get together and organize some serious preventative measures that we can all try and make it work. Does anybody talk to the kids who stand across from their schools and smoke? Do their parents know they smoke?

Finally, let us remember that cigarette smoking is the largest single preventable cause of cancer. It is also the largest single preventable cause of illness and premature death in Canada. Smoking accounts for almost 30 percent of all cancer deaths and kills almost 3,500 Albertans and 45,000 Canadians each year – more people than killed by heroin, cocaine, alcohol, AIDS, fires, murders, suicides and car crashes combined.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!